Knitting machine



y 5, 1959 w. M. GOLASKI 2,884,773

KNITTING MACHINE Filed May 10, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 w; v I INVENITOR.

W4L TEA M GOAASK/ May 5, 1959 w. M. GOLASKI Filed May IN VEN TOR. M44175? M. spurs/0 (BY Q v ATT RNEY United States Patent KNITTING MACHINE Walter M. Golaski, Philadelphia, Pa.

Application May 10, 1957, Serial No. 658,402

Claims. (Cl. 66-96) In the knitting of. cardigans, or open-front sweaters, the back panel is knit in one piece and the front panel is knit in one piece, and the two panels are stitched together along their selvedges. The front panel is then cut along its an l ne and the, edges, thus formed are stitched or looped to form selvedges. The buttonholes are then formed on the margin of one side and the buttons are secured to the margin on the other side.

In order to mark the median line of the front panel, it has been the practice to remove the central needles from the needle bed so as to produce a run or ladder which the operator could safely follow in cutting the panel. Also, dropping stitches is sometimes resorted to in forming ornamental designs and this, too, was done by removing a selected needle or needles.

The needles, and their beards are extremely delicate, they are extremely closely packed, and they must be in perfect alignment in all directions. Therefore, removing a needle when it is desired to drop a stitch and putting it back in when normal knitting is resumed, without disturbing the adjacent needle is a tedius operation and one which requires dexterity and skill.

The object of my invention is to produce a run, or ladder effect at will and without removing or in any Way interfering with any of the needles.

Another object is to produce improved means whereby the knitting machine may be adapted to the production of a ladder, and whereby it may be returned to normal knitting instantly and without any skill.

These, and other objects are attained by my invention as set forth in the following specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the mechanism by which my invention is carried out.

Figs. 2 and 2a are fragmentary, diagrammatic views showing how the mechanism of Fig. 1 produces the ladder efiect shown in Figs. 2 and 5.

Fig. 3 is an elevational view of a conventional sinker.

Fig. 4 is a similar view of a sinker embodying the invention.

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view of a knit [fabric having a ladder effect produced therein according to my invention.

In conventional knitting the yarn guide lays the yarn 12 in a position to be engaged by the throats 14 of conventional sinkers 16. When the sinkers move toward needles 18, they bring the yarn into a position below the beards of the needles so that, when the needles move downwardly, they will pull looped portions of the yarn through the previously formed loops 20. This produces the conventional loop stitches shown in Figs. 2 and 5.

In order to produce the ladder eifect shown in Figs. 2 and 5, without removing any needles, I provide a finger 22 which is carried by a slide bar 24 and which carries a point 26, the lower end of which terminates just above a line passing through the apices of the yarn-receiving throats 14 of conventional sinkers 16.

In other words, a yarn engaged by the throats of the conventional sinkers 16 of Fig. 2 will clear the lower end "ice of point 26 and, when the sinkers move toward the needles, the knitting will proceed in the usual manner.

In order to prevent the yarn from being engaged by the heard of a selected needle, such as needle 28, I provide two sinkers 30, of the type shown in Fig. 4, one on each side of needle 28. By comparing sinker 30 of my invention with the conventional sinker 16 of Fig. 3, it will be seen that the apices of throats 14A of sinkers 30 are higher than the apices of the throats of conventional sinkers 16. This difference in the height of the throats is just enough to raise a yarn engaged by the throats 14A of sinkers 30 to a position in which it will be engaged and held back by the lower end of point 26 as shown at 32 in Fig. 2a so that, when the sinkers move toward the needles, the yarn engaged by point 26 will not move toward, and will not beengaged by needle 28. In other words, the yarn engaged by the throats of conventional sinkers 16 will be in the plane of broken line 34, and will clear the lower end of point 26 while the yarn engaged by the raised throats 14A of sinkers 30, will be arched as at 40 in Fig. 2a, and will be engaged by point 26. Since the yarn portion held by finger 26 will not reach needle 28, no stitch will be formed by this needle.

If the ladder effect is to be produced at the center of the front panel of a sweater, and assuming needle 28 to correspond to this position, it is merely necessary to replace the conventional sinkers 16 on either side of said needle with sinkers 30 of my invention, and then to position point 26 in registration with needle 28. In order to be able to resume normal knitting without removing sinkers 30, I provide means for moving finger 22 out of registration with the needle bed. To this end, bar 24 is slidably mounted and to lock this bar in the position in which point 26 will be out of registration with the needle bed, I provide slide bar 24 with a notch 42 which is adapted to be engaged by a spring-loaded latch 44 which is carried by a fixed portion 46 of the frame of the knitting machine.

It will be noted that the yarn engaged by the throats 14A of sinkers 30 is not raised high enough to prevent it being caught by the beard of needle 28 or by the beards of any of the other needles. This means that, in the absence of point 26, the raised throats 14A of sinkers 30 cannot interfere with the conventional knitting and no ladder, or run, will be produced. That being the case, and where it is desired to produce patterns, the locations of which will vary from time to time, conventional sinkers can be dispensed with altogether and high throated sinkers 30 can be used exclusively. In such an arrangement, the knitting will proceed in the conventional manner until a point 26 is moved into registration with one of the needles to prevent the yarn from reaching such needle and thereby to produce a ladder effect at that point. If desired, two, or more, points 26 can be used in any desired spaced relation so as to produce two, or more ladder effects simultaneously.

When used to mark the centerline of the front panel of a sweater, sinkers 30 are permanently located on either side of central needle 28 so that by merely moving point 26 into registration with needle 28, the desired ladder effeet will be produced automatically and so that, by moving point 26 out of registration with the needle bed, conventional kniting will be automatically resumed.

I claim:

1. In a flat knitting machine, a row of needles, a row of sinkers movable towards, and away from said needles, a yarn guide for depositing yarn between said sinkers and said needles in a position to be engaged by the throats of said sinkers when said sinkers move towards said needles, a finger disposed between the plane in which said yarn is deposited and said row of needles, said finger registering with the space between a selected pair of adjacent sinkers with its lower end disposed in position to engage said yarn and prevent the portion of the yarn engaged by the throats of said pair of sinkers from reaching the corresponding needle to prevent the formation of a stitch on said needle.

2. The structure recited in claim 1 and means for movably mounting said finger and means for moving said finger into a first position in which it registers with, and into a second position in which it does not register with, any of said sinkers.

3. The combination with a knitting machine which includes a row of needles, a row of sinkers movable towards, and away from, said needles to bring a yarn deposited betwen said sinkers and said needles into engagement with said needles, and means for preventing a selected pair of adjacent sinkers from delivering yarn to a needle in registration with the space between said adjacent needles.

4. The structure recited in claim 3, in which said means engages said yarn and prevents its movement towards said needle.

5. In a flat knitting machine including a row of needles, a row of sinkers movable towards, and away from, said needles, a yarn guide for depositing yarn between said sinkers and saidneedles, all but a pair of adjacent sinkers having yarn receiving throats at a first predetermined level, said pair of sinkers having throats at a second, predetermined level which is higher than said first level, whereby the portion of the yarn engaged by the throats of said pair of sinkers is elevated above the plane of the yarn engaged by the throats of the remaining sinkers, and a finger registering with said pair of sinkers with its lower end below the level of the throats of said pair of sinkers and above the level of the throats in the remaining sinkers, whereby said finger engages the portion of yarn engaged by the throats of said pair of sinkers to prevent it reaching the correspondnig needle upon movement of said sinkers toward said needles.

References Cited in the file of this patent 

